NPS is planning to rehabilitate the Arlington Memorial Bridge. During construction, there will be either a full or partial closure of the bridge. WABA is suggesting that this is a good opportunity to put the bridge onto a road diet.

If there is a minimal impact of closing a single lane of car traffic in each direction on the bridge during reconstruction, it should be repurposed entirely as a single travel lane for bicycle traffic.... This road diet does not change the historic design of the sidewalk, curbs, or roadway space. The protected bike lanes could be achieved by painting a buffer between the bike lanes and car lanes, or with decorative brick pavers or colored concrete.

NPS staffers are pursuing safe and separated trail crossings across the GW Parkway to improve access to the bridge. They will begin an environmental assessment of the Memorial Circle in 2014.

The bridge will continue to connect many historically and culturally significant parks, places, and memorials. The inclusion of protected bicycle lanes in the Arlington Memorial Bridge EA could dovetail nicely into the Memorial Circle EA, resulting in a significantly improved connection between the District of Columbia and Virginia for residents and visitors to our Nation’s Capital.

The District Department of Transportation (DDOT) is initiating a planning study to examine opportunities for transportation safety improvements on Canal Road NW, between Chain Bridge and M Street, and will host the first public meeting on the study.

The study will address safety, traffic operations, drainage, erosion and slope stability issues to ensure a safe and protected roadway. The public meeting will include an overview presentation, displays of the study area and the opportunity for residents to provide their input.

What: Preliminary Study of Canal Road between Chain Bridge and M Street – First Public Meeting

At the Alexandria Traffic and Parking Board meeting on Monday night the King Street Traffic Calming and Bike Lane proposal was consideration and largely dismissed, despite a strong majority of speakers being in support. The specific question under consideration was the removal of 27 usually-empty parking spaces and the addition of three parking spaces nearby. The proposed compromise plan, presented by Hillary Poole of the the Transportation and Environmental Services Department, retains 10 spaces on Kings St., in an area where only three cars are usually parked, on average.

At the public hearing 38 people spoke in favor of bike lanes and18 spoke against. Almost all who spoke for bike lanes stated both a preference for the originally-proposed full bike lanes and a willingness to support the compromise proposal from the city.

Speakers included a teacher at TC Williams High School who teaches about environmentalism, students who live and study at the Virginia Theological Seminary on Seminary Hill, two sight-impaired cyclists, one of whom organizes the Tandem Tuesdays cycling group that pairs sighted pilots with sight-impaired "stokers" to enjoy bicycling, and numerous citizens. Some citizens in the immediately-affected area spoke in favor of the proposal.

The Traffic and Parking Board received letters of support from the Environmental Policy Commission and the Parks and Recreation Commission. Like the Traffic and Parking Board, these commissions are charged with balancing citizen concerns with city initiatives, such as the Transportation Master Plan and the Eco-City Alexandria Charter. A member of the Environmental Policy Commission read their letter at the hearing.

Representatives from the Washington Area Bicyclist Association and the Coalition For Smarter Growth spoke at the hearing. These regional organizations promote citizens concerns for health, safety and livability and have many members and supporters in Alexandria.

Members of the Alexandria Bicycle and Pedestrian Advisory Committee (BPAC), including myself, made an effort to compromise by backing the city's compromise proposal, as did many of the residents.

The main message of the NIMFYs (not in my front yard; one speaker characterized herself as such.) was that King Street is too dangerous for bicycling and cannot be made safe. As a result, everyone on all sides were talking safety, safety, and safety. NIMFYs also emphasized that they need to be able to have parking for services and visitors. Pro bike-lane speakers responded that they did not have parking directly in front of their homes and were somehow able to have visitors and to keep their homes in good repair. One speaker reiterated a statement from Mayor Euille, who was recently quoted in the press regarding Capital Bikeshare: “We don’t want people driving their cars and parking, we want people to be using bicycles and walking.”

The Traffic and Parking Board did the following:

Asked very few questions.

Commission Chair Jay Johnson asked only one question of BPAC Chair Jerry King. In that question he characterized the cyclist position, as received in letters and e-mails, as "bike lanes or nothing." In fact, no speaker in favor of bike lanes expressed this position.

A member of the Board dismissed the over 3000 Alexandria residents who are members of WABA by grilling WABA community outreach coordinator Greg Billings on whether or not he himself was a resident of Alexandria. They rudely asked him no other questions.

With the exception of a single board member, they spoke only about the need to protect residents and pedestrians, not cyclists.

In the discussion preceding their vote, one member claimed that there was no common ground between residents, who want all parking retained and cyclists, most of whom prefer full bike lanes. Despite the fact that this was clearly counter-factual (the common ground is the 10 spaces retained in the compromise proposal), there was no disagreement among the board on this point.

They were dismissive of the actual compromise proposal put forward by City staff and supported by a clear majority of bike-lane proponents. This proposal would retain 10 parking spaces on King St and add three more on neighboring streets. This was dismissed as having no "common ground" between the two sides and containing no "meat."

The Traffic and Parking Board recommended that city staff implement all "pedestrian improvements", implement no bicycling improvements, retain all parking, and come back later with a proposal that has "common ground" and "meat."

My own take on that is that the Traffic and Parking Board, on this occasion, had no interest in hearing anything that did not reinforce their preconceived notions, but they did not actually come out an say what those notions were. Personally, I have heard quite a bit about the need to revamp the public process to better engage and listen to citizens through the “What's Next Alexandria” initiative. What we seem to have is an example of a board that will not serve any such process, no matter how cleverly designed. In this case at least, it demonstrated no interest in listening to citizens that did not agree with its preconceived views. In other words, the Traffic and Parking Board demonstrated no respect for either the citizens or the initiatives of the City Council.

On a positive note, we in the bicyclist, pedestrian, smart growth, environmental, and livability communities came together in a big way. We have not done this so strongly before in Alexandria and I do not think that members of the Traffic and Parking Board knew how to react. In the long run, these communities need to ensure that it is politically impossible to dismiss cyclists in the manner that they were dismissed by the Traffic and Parking Board on Monday night. Our well-organized voices were clear, strong, and delivered a message that will continue to resonate until we get what is needed for the city of Alexandria: bicycling, walking and transit networks that work so well that both traffic and parking become largely irrelevant.

Despite new laws passed to prevent these kinds of things, another driver who killed a cyclist will walk away with only traffic fines.

A motorist won't face criminal charges in an August accident that killed an assistant track coach at Annapolis High School.

Anne Arundel County prosecutors announced Friday that a grand jury has declined to indict 37-year-old Whitney Decesaris. She will be charged with negligent driving and other traffic offenses.

“The grand jury determined that there was no probable cause to charge the driver with Criminally Negligent Manslaughter, which would have required a finding that she drove in a manner that was a gross deviation of the standard of care that a reasonable person would exercise under the circumstances,” said a six-paragraph statement issued by the Anne Arundel County State’s Attorney’s office. “As a result of the grand jury’s decision, the Anne Arundel County police will issue negligent driving and related traffic offenses to the driver by citation.”

The four traffic citations — failure to exercise caution, driving left of the center line and unsafe passing, negligent driving and failure to control speed — each carries a maximum fine of $500. Decesaris can pay the $2,000 in fines or contest the citations in court.

“I’m scared to ride now,” said Mark Hamilton, a county resident who took up cycling this year while nursing a running injury. “Precedent has been set that if someone kills me, it will only cost them $2,000 in traffic fines.”

“If there were ever a case that could clearly be made for [criminally negligent manslaughter], it’s this one,” said Alex Pline, who made a video that showed the approach to the accident scene as Cunningham and DeCesaris would have seen it.

It also sounds like DeCesaris lied

A car suddenly appeared from the other direction, police were told, and DeCesaris swerved back to the right and slammed into Cunningham. Impact marks on the front bumper of DeCesaris’s minivan were about 10 inches from the right side of the vehicle, indicating that Cunningham was struck directly from behind, according to someone with knowledge of the investigation.

Leitess’s spokeswoman, Heather Stone, also refused to answer when asked if political pressure had been exerted on Leitess from the well-connected family of the driver. Decesaris is part of a family that developed much of Prince George’s and southern Anne Arundel counties. The Geaton and JoAnn DeCesaris Cancer Institute at the Anne Arundel Medical Center is named for members of her family.

DeCesaris' statement

“Starting today, I need to forget what’s gone, appreciate what still remains, and look forward to what’s coming next"

If only Trish Cunningham had that option. Maybe DeCesaris should go to jail and maybe not, but she certainly should not drive again for a very long time.

The Family says

“It was our hope that out of this tragedy some good could come and a higher awareness of the need for cars and bikes to respect each other and the space needed for cyclists to safely ride on the roads; however it appears that the States Attorney’s office has determined that unless drugs, alcohol or phone use was involved it is open season on bicycles in Maryland. The loss to our family was huge and we understand that nothing can bring Trish back, but to do nothing but issuing a traffic ticket only compounds the tragedy and is unacceptable. Based upon our investigation, we believe that the Defendant (contrary to some news reports) never crossed the center line or attempted to pass until after Trish was struck from behind. There is no explanation as to how she failed to see Trish when it is a long straight hill and why she failed to do anything to avoid the wreck or even considered closing and passing a bicycle (or any vehicle) on a blind hill. We also look forward the complete file being released so the public can make up their own minds as to whether charges should have been filed.”

The Capital Bikeshare network in Alexandria has seen a 72 percent cost recovery in its first year, far exceeding initial projections....The DASH bus system in Alexandria has roughly a 30 percent cost-recovery rate.

Alexandria will be doubling its Bikeshare station network this winter with the addition of eight stations in Del Ray, Carlyle and Slaters Lane.

During a presentation before City Council last week, Sanders said there have been more than 20,000 Bikeshare trips in Alexandria since its launch. An annual member survey revealed a reduction in vehicle miles and personal travel costs in the city as a result of Capital Bikeshare, Sanders said.

But even this success cannot overcome the World's Greatest Problem ("Where can I store my car for free?")

Vice Mayor Allison Silberberg, who said she was impressed by the success of the program, asked that vehicle parking spaces not be removed to accommodate new stations.

Mayor Bill Euille disagreed.

“What we’re trying to do is get people out of their cars and using other modes of transportation,” Euille said. “So there’s nothing wrong about putting these bike stations in places where there are currently parking spaces because that’s the message we want people to send. We don’t want people driving their cars and parking, we want people to be using bicycles and walking.”

Alright, that last statement does undermine some of my more recent posts where I argue that no one is telling you how to live. I guess some people are. But that's the wrong message. The right message is we want to help people get out of their cars and use other modes of transportation, because there are a lot of people who want that, but for various reasons don't feel they can do that. We aren't trying to force anyone to do anything they don't want to [But we do want them to pay for the negative externalities].

Fred Smith, proving that If you can deny the existence of Global Warming, you can deny any fact.

"We know that there are these elaborate computer models that have never been right before, may be right this time, that suggest climate changes, possibly good, possibly bad. Most of the indications right now are it looks pretty good. Warmer winters, warmer nights, no effects during the day because of clouding, sounds to me like we’re moving to a more benign planet, more rain, richer, easier productivity to agriculture."

Non-preener Esther Goldberg, one half of Alexandria's Mega Powers of Crazy, penned an article on - you guessed it - the "Bike Lane Wars" of Northern Virginia. It borrows heavily from her husband's piece in the Wall Street Journal, but she's not content to just borrow his unbaked ideas, unsubstantiated claims and complete fallacies - she must include her own. Before I go any further, comments to the Alexandria City Council have been heavily against bike lanes on King Street so, please, contact the council and let them know that people do support them.

But back to the article. A lot of it is just so jaw-droppingly ridiculous that no response is possible - and what is up with these people and calling people preening. Here is the most important line:

As with the adherents of any belief system, such as environmentalism—and indeed liberalism—[bike lane supporters] are impervious to facts and uninterested in practicality and rational discourse.

Really? Let's see.

Looking out of the front window of my house on King Street, the main street in Alexandria, Virginia, I might easily be misled into thinking that I live on a complete street: pedestrians stroll along the sidewalks, some pushing baby strollers or walking their dogs; and two narrow traffic lanes accommodate 15,000 cars a day, as well buses, trucks, motorcycles and bicycles.

For the 23 years I’ve lived here, this street seemed to work beautifully for everyone. It gave our neighborhood a welcome diversity.

I'm confused, because your husband spent a lot of time talking about how cyclists do not favor King Street and how cars speed at nearly twice the limit and buses run red lights and it isn't safe for man nor beast. So which is it? Is it the Australian highways of Mad Max or is it the idyllic roads of Mayberry?

Instead it’s an exercise of raw power by the politically well-connected to mandate their vision about how we ought to live.

Yes, we - the all-powerful bike lobby - want to change how she lives. Our sinister plan will require that she live her life exactly as she does now (if she wants) except that her maid will have to park one block away. "Remember when we were free," people will say.

For the activists of the movement, our streets won’t be “complete” until cars are eliminated entirely or, for the less doctrinaire amongst them, radically reduced.

Actually, there is no one really pushing either of these agendas.

All this is to be done on the model of the frog in the boiling pot, with the temperature raised by small degrees until the frog is quite cooked

[This was shown to not be true, FYI].

Step 1 is to convince City Hall to paint “sharrows” on a road, indicating that the road is to be shared with cyclists. Only the road is already shared with cyclists, so what’s the point?

It's pretty easy to find the point of sharrows, and it's much more than she's described. Lazy or deceptive?

Step 2 occurs when the road is repaved by the City. At that point, the sharrows are replaced by dedicated bike lanes.

I actually can't think of a single place where bike lanes later replaced sharrows.

Where the street is too narrow for both on-street parking and bike lanes, the parking spaces disappear.

This is the exception, not the rule. Usually there are just no bike lanes.

Homeowners want to invite their friends over for coffee, set up play dates for their children, and accommodate the carpooling arrangements that transport them to and from school.

Some do. But others want to run prostitution businesses out of their home, cheat on their spouses and manufacture meth. Homeowners really run the gamut.

That’s when the “Bike Wars” start, and that’s also when Step 3 is invoked.

I have no idea what step 3 actually is, because Goldberg never says.

We have great bike lanes in Northern Virginia, perhaps the nicest in the country, a 35-mile stretch along the Potomac River from Mount Vernon to Great Falls.

Fact: those aren't bike lanes. Fact: the trail she's writing about doesn't go to Great Falls. Did she do any research at all?

Instead, we’re talking about cyclists who commute to work or school, and they’re only one percent of American adults.

No, we're talking about people who bike for any reason whatsoever. Some to commute. Some to go to the store. Some aren't even adults. Even recreational cyclists have to get on the road. And something like 50% of Americans will get on a bike at least once this year. So it's far more than 1%. That's a fact.

One “PM” suggests on a bicyclist blog what’s to be done if they don’t get their way

I don't know if GGW is really a bicyclist blog, but I'm not sure we can reference blog comments as representative of any group.

it’s frightening on a dark night to have a cyclist dressed all in black lycra and helmet, only a small tail light visible, suddenly pull out in front of your car

Why is the cyclist "suddenly" pulling out in front of the car? That's not what the commenter suggested and where are they pulling out from.

I’m not enamored of these guys, but I don’t want to hurt them either.

No, of course not. You do want the street to be less safe so that your plumber (or meth customers?) have easy parking though.

Another, more widely copied tactic is something called Critical Mass

No, this is very much a fringe movement and if there is a critical mass ride in Alexandria, I've never heard of it.

Under Chairman Mao, the Chinese got around by bicycle, but now an increasingly middle class Chinese society has ditched its bikes for cars. We, richer than they, are asked to give up cars for bicycles.

Who's asking? Keep your car. But you know all the talk about communism, and Karl Marx and Chairman Mao is funny, since in the end what she's fighting to keep is the right to use public roadway for her parking. Isn't free, government provided parking that's available to all kind of, well, communist?

Cyclist Sarah Goodyear traced the anti-bike sentiment to “the destructive urban renewal policies of the ’50s and ’60s.” The problem, however, is that liberals were on the wrong side of that one as well.

Actually, Goodyear was talking about anti-gentrification sentiment. And I don't think adding bike lanes to King Street has anything to do with gentrification.

Now the same impulse to improve the life of the lower orders can be seen in their dedicated bike lanes. If the lower orders balk at being improved in this way, why we just have to nudge them, don’t we? And until then, it’s our lot that gets to use the bike lanes.

Nope. This is really about helping people to safely get where they want to go on their bike. That's it. No nudging.

Like any respectable religion, the bike community has is martyrs, such as 24-year old Amelie Le Moullac who was struck by a food truck in San Francisco on August 14. Ms. Le Moullac didn’t see the truck’s blinker signaling a right turn and the driver didn’t get into the bike lane to make his turn. Trucks and bicycles are not a happy mix, bike lanes or no. In fact, Ms. Le Moullac would have been better off had there been no bike lane for then she would have been behind the truck rather than on its right.

In fact, we don't know where she would have been. But we do know that bike lanes make people safer. That is a fact. Anecdotes are not data. And she has conveniently left out the fact that the driver was "driving too fast to safely make the turn." The problem in this tragedy is not bike lanes, it's bad driving. Bad drivers and cyclists don't mix, bike lanes or no. But so far the only casualty we have in the "bike lanes war" is a girl who was killed by a bad driver.

Nevertheless, her death is being exploited by the bikers

Pot - kettle - black.

But she saves the truly craziest stuff for the end

Not surprisingly, whenever there’s a really bad idea, you can expect it to be promoted by the United Nations. Bicyclists have thus pointed to the UN’s “Agenda 21,” a land sustainability and development program, as a justification for their plans.

Remember when the UN promoted invading Iraq and spending billions of dollars to kill millions of people all to depose a guy who wasn't doing any of the things he was accused of - oh right, they opposed that idea. So maybe not every bad idea.

And Agenda 21!!!! Really???? What happened to your love of rational discourse?

The Complete Streets movement is comprised of a number of clubs. Some of these, like Critical Mass

My own city of Alexandria will face off against the local bikers at City Hall on November 25. So wish us luck and get organized before they seek to take your parking

FACT: It's NOT YOUR F***ING PARKING! It's a city owned street. You can't have something taken away from you that doesn't belong to you.

get organized before they seek to take your parking and car lanes, increase your property taxes

FACT: It's also not your car lane. And how are they going to increase your property taxes exactly?

If Critical Masser Quintin Mecke is correct in hislament that the younger crowd “has decided to distance itself from the historic roots of its own community in the name of moderation, families on bikes and political expediency,” we have cause to be optimistic for the future.